In a piece entitled “Thompson of Arabia; The case for an American Al-Jazeera” Miami New Times columnist John Lombardi impugns so-called “alternative” weeklies and journalists while pining for a little more reckless abandon:
‘The co-opting of the “underground” tradition of journalism into the more socially responsible and sales-friendly “alternative” press is now virtually complete. Here in Miami, the Knight-Ridder chain has hired Village Voice and New Times staffers, and is putting out a shrink-wrapped ad-scam product called Street, utterly devoid of literate content but art-directed in a suitably jejeune style so that its sales force can rep it as “youth market.” ‘
I can’t agree more. These are tough times, and, increasingly, I’m convinced that the gloves have to come off.
And one other pet peeve I must air — it’s time for truly alternative journalism, such as practiced by IMCs, to emphasize protest coverage less. I’m not attacking the power of protest, nor the need to ensure that protestors be fairly reported on — especially when they’re subject to regular police attack. But this sometimes singular focus also threatens to limit the IMC’s audience to just people who are already sympathetic to the protestors and their message.
It’s time to break some eggs, and get the attention of more of the public, even those who might not give two shits about a protest in DC, and who may not even give two shits about protestors being pre-emptively arrested and brutalized. We don’t have to pander to them — we have to piss them off, get them riled up and thinking about what’s really going on. As it is now, I think too often they don’t even notice.
In many ways, the daily comic strip Bookdocks probably does this better and affects more people than all the IMCs combined — benefitting, of course, from inclusion in hundreds of mainstream daily papers. The obsbud of the Chicago Tribune writes today that the strip brings all sorts of letters of protest to the paper — mostly from white people — with lots coming in over Sunday’s Boondocks. Imagine if cartoons like this — challenging but not utterly lacking in subtley — were on the front page of our alternative and indy newspapers. That might get more attention — much of it negative. But even to merely react to something like that requires some thought, somewhere.
Yes, it’s a delicate line to walk — to shake shit up, make some noise, but also retain credibility and be responsible to your community (but notnecessarily to the power base of your community). And walking that line will involve tripping and falling over. But isn’t that risk worth it?
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